• Soggy@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    We did address it. And then everyone immediately changed how they pronounced every vowel.

    We should address it again, and fix the way a ton of words have been Anglicized at the same time, but we’re far from alone. French is loaded with needlessly silent letters as well, just as the first example that springs to mind.

    (actually, can we just switch directly to the International Phonetic Alphabet?) (This is a bad idea for reasons that are probably obvious, it’s a lateral move at best)

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      4 hours ago

      We did address it. And then everyone immediately changed how they pronounced every vowel.

      What do you mean? The Great Vowel Shift happened well before any standardisation of spelling I’m aware of. And there’s plenty of problems beyond just the vowels.

      French is probably number two on the shit list, but there’s at least a consistent pattern there.